A Grammar of Pan-Africanism, and its manners of articulation:
Part One: FOCUS ON COPENHAGEN:
# 1 "WE WILL NOT DIE QUIETLY!."
"Today, while big NGOs bit their tongues, Lumumba Di-Aping, the Sudanese chairman of the G77 group of developing nations, greeted the news that rich countries will spend a mere $10-billion helping poor states cope with climate change by saying that it was "not enough to buy us coffins." And when the Danish draft of the final agreement was leaked to The Guardian-incorporating much of Washington's destructive wish list-it was the Africans who were out protesting it first.
Obama, the son of a Kenyan man, still inspires a great deal of pride among African delegates here, and rightfully so. But the louder message we are hearing is that that the continent has a great many sons and daughters and our collective failure to address the climate crisis is an immediate threat to their survival. As the African delegates chanted at the Bella Center tonight: "We will not die quietly." Read moreClimate betrayal--Africa cooling on Obama after secret 'Danish Text' leak
by: Paul Rosenberg Wed Dec 09, 2009 at 15:15
What I find very interesting about this part is where it began: The Official Joy 99.7 FM Facebook Group
Nana Akyea Mensah ii. VOICES OF OUR TIMES!
This is to help focus public attention and stimulate informed debates
about what is clearly a serious matter that is literally a life and
death issue, but hardly discus...sed enough at the grassroots. This
article has been written, thus in the view to help focus attention and
encourage grass-root discussion on what Amy Goodman aptly describes as
"depicted by scientists as "the most important the world has ever
seen." 'To stress the significance of the summit,' Amy Goodman goes on,
'fifty-six newspapers in forty-five countries are taking the
unprecedented step of publishing the same editorial today. The
editorial reads, quote, “Unless we combine to take decisive action,
climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and
security…Climate change has been caused over centuries, has
consequences that will endure for all time and our prospects of taming
it will be determined in the next 14 days,” as goes the editorial.'
December 08, 2009
Nigerian Environmentalist Nnimmo Bassey: The Global North Owes a Climate Debt to Africa
Nnimmo Bassey, founder of Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria, and he serves as the international chair of Friends of the Earth.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Nnimmo Bassey, what do you want to
happen out of here, when you have world leaders like our own President
Obama saying there will not be a binding agreement coming out of COP15,
this summit?
NNIMMO BASSEY: It’s really shocking that Obama would say
a thing like that, before even coming down here. It’s like telling us
that we’ve come here to waste our time. I mean, that kind of statement
means to me that we have a lot of time to play around with politics of
climate change. But indeed, the world has no time. We’ve run out of
time. We are not even in injury time. We’ve gone to the brink. And the
United States—President of United States, Obama, has a responsibility
to take this matter seriously. It’s an issue of justice. And it’s
completely unethical to play politics or play under the table. To make
some private secret deals among presidents about climate change, that
is totally unacceptable.
www.democracynow.org
We turn now to one of Nigeria's best-known environmental leaders, Nnimmo Bassey. He is the founder of Environmental Rights Action in Nigeria, and he serves as the international chair of Friends of the Earth. ...
December 09, 2009
Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, the Sudanese chair of the group of 132 developing countries known as G77.
“This Text Is an Extremely Dangerous Document for Developing Countries”: G77 Chief Condemns Secret US-Danish Climate Deal
The UN climate talks are in disarray here in Copenhagen after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders will next week be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN’s role in all future climate change negotiations. Moments before we went on the air, Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, the Sudanese chair of the group of 132 developing countries known as G77, condemned the leaked document. [includes rush transcript]
AMY GOODMAN: We’re broadcasting live from Copenhagen. This is Climate Countdown.
- YVO DE BOER: Time is up. Over the next two weeks, governments have to deliver a strong and long-term response to the challenge of climate change. MOHAMED AXAM MAUMOON: All those countries are suffering to the point that we can’t see the end of it, because the mistakes other countries are making, for the mistakes that you are—that many people don’t try to redeem themselves from. And it’s as good as killing us off.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Climate Countdown. We’re broadcasting live from Copenhagen. I’m Amy Goodman, joined by Democracy Now!’s Anjali Kamat.
ANJALI KAMAT: Welcome, everyone. We’re here in the Bella Center in Copenhagen.
The UN talks here are in disarray after developing countries reacted furiously to leaked documents that show world leaders next week will be asked to sign an agreement that hands more power to rich countries and sidelines the UN’s role in all future climate change negotiations.
The secret draft agreement was leaked to The Guardian newspaper, which broke the story yesterday afternoon. The document also sets unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050, meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much as those in poor countries.
The Guardian reports the document, known as the “Danish text,” was worked on by a group of individuals known as the “circle of commitment.” It is understood to include the Britain—to include Britain, the United States and Denmark and has only been shown to a handful of countries since it was finalized this week.
The head of the UN climate talks, Yvo de Boer, downplayed the significance of the leaked document, saying, quote, “This was an informal paper ahead of the conference given to a number of people for the purposes of consultations. The only formal texts in the UN process are the ones tabled by the Chairs of this Copenhagen conference at the behest of the Parties.”
Moments before we went on the air, Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping addressed the controversy. He is the Sudanese chair of the group of 132 developing countries known as G77 and China.
- LUMUMBA STANISLAUS DI-APING: …is that this text, the Danish text, is an extremely dangerous document for developing countries. It is a total violation of the principles of transparency and openness. It is a rejection of the fact that the UNFCCC is the only legitimate forum for conducting negotiations by parties to the convention. And in terms of substance, it is a fundamental rejection and reworking of the [UNFCCC] balance of obligations between developing and developed countries. Not only that, it’s our humble view it’s equally an insult to the elected president of COP15. This text comes from the office of the Prime Minister of Denmark. It’s overreaching. The strategic goal is to destroy the balance of obligations between developing and developed, industrialized Western countries. And this is done by and with a zealous rejection of the notion of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. And further, it denies the fact that developed countries have a historical responsibility for damaging the atmospheric space, which is something started and has been continuing for the last—over last 200 years.
AMY GOODMAN: Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping addressing the controversy of the so-called Danish text.
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